Gas prices plunge below $3 a gallon in some parts of northern New Jersey. It’s priced $2.97 at the Costco in Clifton and at Delta on Broadway in Passaic.

Such a kind of price-drop was seen in the end of June’12, which was unreasonable, oil analyst, Tom Kloza said.

Kloza cited that the market again soared up to the threshold of $4 last spring and another time fell apart.

At present, New York and Connecticut have the highest gas prices, but it will slowly go down until New Year.

On 12th December’12, the crude oil was trading below $50 a barrel in Canada.

In North America prices for natural gas at wholesale are about one-fourth of what they are priced in other continents. Not only this, the shale oil boom and the tar sands boom out in western Canada are forcing a lot of crude out and giving a stiff competition to Mid-Eastern crude in somehow, he said.

You can expect better gas prices next year, but the days of $1.39 a gallon are far away.

The 160-kilometer intended pipeline is expected to supply gas from Semnan province to Mazandaran province, adjacent to the Caspian Sea. The project to be completed in two years is estimated to cost 3.5 trillion rials ($286 million).

Iran imports nearly 18 million cubic meters of gas per day from Turkmenistan, and it goes up to 30 million cubic meters of gas per day in winter. According to Owji statements, imports from Turkmenistan have decreased by 52 percent in the first half of the present Iranian year, compared to that of last year.

Last year, Iran consumed 153.3 billion cubic meters of gas while producing 151.8 billion cubic meters. It exports some 8.4 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey, annually and 400,000 cubic meters of its gas to Armenia for electricity. On the other hand, the country has swap arrangement with Azerbaijan that accounts for one million cubic meters of gas per day.

Natural gas is always hooked to the oil market through long-term contracts as earlier, gas and oil were produced mainly by the same exporters and used in the same industries.

Subsequent to new bilateral contracts between exports and their customers based on regional gas exchanges, gas will be steered by specific regional prices rather than global benchmarks, for instance oil’s Brent crude.

Axa Investment managers said: “A new relationship is developing between oil and gas prices.”

Due to rise in supplies of natural gas from countries that don’t sell oil overseas and increasing demand of gas in Asia, trading of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has boosted a bit.

With such a prospect, natural gas will become the world’s dominant fuel for electricity generation, next to coal following the shift of gas trading away from pipelines towards a seaborne commodity.

Axa cited: “More LNG terminals …mean liquid fuels can come from anywhere.”

Above situations point out developments that previously took place in the coal market, which appeared as a globally traded commodity in the second half of the 20th century as many suppliers began serving hubs of big demand in America, Europe and Asia.

LPG trading is relatively immature and younger market. Therefore, its prices fluctuate broadly by region.

For LNG imports, Asian importers have to pay almost $14 per British thermal units (mmBtu) although North America earns advantages because of its lowest gas prices at around $3.5 per million mmBtu.

Russia, Norway and North Africa import natural gas to Europe through pipeline and charge around $11 per mmBtu.

In the latest World Energy Outlook to 2035, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said: “Rising LNG supplies are likely to lead to increase price connectivity between regions and a degree of price convergence.”

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On the energy equivalency basis, now that the prices of domestic natural gas are one tenth the price of diesel, several project developers are now planning to offer facilities for producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) for ships, trucks, locomotives, and other heavy-duty consumers.

Many leading producers of LNG will be presenting their plans and projects in the one-day seminar titled “North American LNG Fuel Supply” which is scheduled to be held on 13th December in Houston, USA. The presentations will cover the most important aspects related to LNG production such as the future of gas market, how the plant expansions will take place etc. The seminar will also throw a light on those areas where demand is likely to be greatest.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin showed ‘Go!’ sign for investing tens of billions of dollars for Gazprom’s plans of tapping a new field of natural gas in Siberia and simultaneously building a new pipeline towards Russia’s Pacific coast.

‘Gazprom’, state-controlled natural gas giant plans to build a pipeline that will cover about 3,200-kilometers. The pipeline will link the field with Russia’s Pacific port of Vladivostok.

According to Alexei Miller, the CEO of Gazprom, the project needs an investment of 430 billion rubles ($13.7 billion) to tap and develop the field. He also revealed that building the pipeline will also need 770 billion rubles ($24.4 billion). The company plans to explore Chaynda deposit in the Yakutia region, a field that is estimated to have about 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. It also plans to expand the project towards east by building a pipeline from another giant Siberian field, Kovykta, where presence of about 2.5 trillion cubic meters of gas is expected.

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To pass on their message to policymakers and the public that selling the country’s surplus natural gas overseas will yield momentous economic benefits and not radically raise prices, the Centre for Liquefied Natural Gas will introduce a new website.

The head of the LNG trade group, Bill Cooper, said: “there is a lot of stranded investment waiting to be unleashed in these projects that would pour billions of dollars into local and national economies, if the regulatory process would be freed up and allowed to move forward.”

After the boom in U.S. shale oil and gas production, both President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, have cited that it’s a vital component for stirring the country toward “energy independence.”

On 6th November 2012, the winner will have to face all concerns about “how to mange the newfound energy wealth.”

As per federal law, it allows the exports of natural gas, but the Energy Department wants to know whether expanded exports are in the national interest.

Until now, merely one terminal has been sanctioned although the decisions on about 10 applications are postponed till a review on the implications of exports is concluded.

Some critics state that the country’s huge gas reserves should be used to boost US industry as the exporting gas manufacturers are already experiencing a resurgence to cheap energy costs.

With the campaign, the LNG group looks forward to combating calls to limit exports and will accelerate the delayed permitting process.

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Chrysler Group LLC, the automaker controlled by Fiat SpA (F), is offering its natural gas-powered Ram pickup, for sale to retail buyers.

Peter Grady, vice-president of network development and fleet, said that the company has started permitting all dealers to order the Ram 2500 Heavy-Duty CNG pickup in September. Previously, Chrysler used to make the truck available only to fleet buyers.

Chrysler united with Honda Motor Co. as the only automakers selling compressed natural gas vehicles to the United States retail consumers.

At the office in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Grady said: “the dealers have been asking for it, they’ve been clamouring, particularly in the natural gas states and in some of these places where you’re starting to get infrastructure.” Citing in an interview, he said that fuel and infrastructure are mainly available in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Chrysler and Turin, Italy based Fiat’s chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne said that natural gas engines are more cost-effective and viable, then electric cars and plug-in hybrid.

To ease buyers, the company will offer debit cards that can be utilized at any of the 163 Clean Energy Stations in the United States.

Macro Frommer, Honda Spokesman, said that the company has sold about 1,576 cars that run on compressed natural gas since last October. He also pointed out that American Honda is the US sales arm of Honda Motor Co.

With this proposal, the company claims that buyers can save up to 40 percent on fuel corresponding to other conventional gasoline powered compact cars. The new Honda Civic Natural gas can be driven up to 200 miles to a full tank, about half that of compact cars.

In July, the average price for natural gas was $2.02 for the equivalent of a gasoline, relative to the average price for gasoline in July of $3.38 per gallon.

The prices on natural gas per gallon of gasoline equivalent are $1.50 to $2 gallon less than conventional gasoline, Natural Gas Vehicles for America (NGVA) reported.

Around 36 states sell the Civic Natural Gas at 199 dealerships and the company’s natural gas-powered car is the only available in the United States.

Clean Energy Fuels vice-president, Peter Grace said that the $3,000 natural gas debit car will allow buyers to stay fuel free for two –three years. To buy the natural gas Civic car, the debit card incentive is priced at about half the cost premium of the car from a similar gasoline-powered Civic.

The Honda Civic Natural Gas costs $26,305 for the base model. The company has sold around 120,000 natural gas vehicles in the United States and over 15 million worldwide.

Around 1,100 natural gas filling stations are in the United States, and their rate of construction is 20 to 25 per month.

These situations resemble some Cold War movie, but it’s due to the US. Boom in natural gas drilling along with other political implications.

Just like a domino effect, hydraulic fracturing or fracking is affecting the world energy markets  from Washington to Moscow to Beijing. As the US doesn’t require importing gas in the upcoming future, therefore, Russia possibly will be the big loser.

Because of evolving changes, other nations’ domination in the European gas markets will be affected, an expert on Russia at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington, Fiona Hill said.

Consequently, those that trade in energy will have to bear gain or lose.

According to a report of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, “The relative fortunes of the United States, Russia, and China as well as their ability to exert influence in the world are tied in no small measure to global gas developments.”

A few years ago, all favourable circumstances began to outspread as advances in drilling opened vast reserves of gas buried in deep shale rock, such as the Marcellus formation in Pennsylvania and the Barnett, in Texas.

Some experts suspect that the US would have  a deficient of natural gas if shale gas haven’t flooded the market. Such a thing has plunged gas prices.

For about $10 per unit, Russia exports enormous quantities of gas to Europe and other countries. However, the price is about $3 for the same quantity in the US. This kind of thing will certainly fascinate energy companies and politicians around the world.

After 2009, some European counties have started looking for alternative sources. For almost two weeks due to a price and payment dispute, over 15 European countries had to suffer as Russia cut off gas shipments via Ukraine.

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People across Congress-ruled India are probably going to get thrown back into Stone Age on October 1, 2012 when LGP distributors go on a token strike against the government’s decision of capping the subsidized cylinders in the country.

All India LPG Distributors’ Federation and National Federation of LPG Distributors of India point out the abnormalities in the distribution and price system laid down by the government. Although the government has capped subsidized cylinders to 6 per household in a year and 9 in Congress ruled states, there is no system to keep a tab on the number of subsidized cylinders given to each household. In addition, no mention of an uniform pricing system will further fuel black marketing.

Until the government introduces a proper monitoring procedure and sets some fixed service charges and commission for distributors on subsidized and market-price cylinders, the federations’ will stop home delivery of cylinders from October 1.

Earlier there were two categories of LPG cylinders – domestic and commercial. Now with introduction of subsidized cylinder, the government has created three categories – subsidized (6 or 9 cylinders), non-subsidized, commercial and exempt (schools, hospitals, temples, etc. that will continue to receive all cylinders at subsidized rates).

If the distributors’ demands are not met, they have threatened to go on an indefinite strike.

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